WHAT IS MAD HOUSE?
Mad House promotes and produces live art and other experimental performing arts. Mad House focuses on content, it is a work in progress, a process which learns by experience. The Mad House team consists of a bunch of artists and art producers. At Mad House, art and community comes first. Mad House has produced five performance seasons between 2014 and 2018 in Suvilahti, Helsinki, and fin 2019 Mad House developed ongoing, year around programming, in the Teurastamo area, Helsinki.
In 2022 Mad House office is located in Artlab, Valilla, which is a creative community for multiple organizations. At the moment Mad House does not have a permanent venue for performances.
LIVE ART
Live Art is a term that describes a new field of art, created in the terrain between the various traditions of performing arts, born in the 21st century.
PROGRAMME
Mad House's programme consists of experimental art, performances, exhibitions, stand-up and contemporary dance, and workshops. The Mad House programme is put together by assigned curators. The productions on the programme are either invited or chosen through an open call, which is announced in due course. The focus of the Mad House season programme is on artists working mainly in Finland.
In addition to its season programme, Mad House produces the BAD HOUSE live art festival, which focuses on international artists. BAD HOUSE, organized for the first time in the spring of 2021, aims to promote imperfection, discrepancies, forbearance, and the freedom of art among the art festivals of Helsinki. Beginning in August, 2020, Mad House has been publishing its own digital publication, the Mad House Publication.
WHY MAD HOUSE?
Mad House offers live art artists a stage, an international network, and the support of a production organization. Mad House spreads over the entire live art field, bringing artists together, and making live art accessible to the public. Mad House meets the central needs of live art: Premises, national and international mobility and communication, as well as optimizing resources. Mad House is committed to transparency and equality.
ASSOCIATION
Mad House Helsinki is runned by an association called Mad House ystävät ry - Mad House -vänner rf. The official rules of the association can be red here (in Finnish).
HISTORY IN A NUT SHELL
Mad House's 1st season was a month-long, dense, international event of live art at Tiivistämö, Suvilahti, Helsinki, from 1-29 October, 2014. The programme consisted of performances, demos, workshops, lectures, screenings, concerts, clubs, parties and discussions.
Working group: Marina Andersson-Rahikka, Heidi Backström, Satu Herrala, Martina Marti, Eva Neklyaeva, Pietu Pietiäinen, Mirva Pulkkinen, Annika Tudeer, Juha Valkeapää
Mad House's 2nd season included 64 days full of art and discussions between the 1st of September and 30th of Novemeber, 2015. More than 16 artists or collectives contributed to the second season. Mad House collaborated with many influential festivals and such as Baltic Circle, Pixelache and /teatteri.nyt.
Working group: Marina Andersson-Rahikka, Heidi Backström, Leena Kela, Pietu Pietiäinen, Mirva Pulkkinen, Annika Tudeer, Juha Valkeapää
Mad House's 3rd season took place in Tiivistämö from 5 February to 30 April, 2016. The focus was on longer performance periods for live and performance artists. The season was paying special attention to performances honoring the dada movement, as well as questions around LGBT and queer matters.
Working group: Markus Alanen, Marina Andersson-Rahikka, Heidi Backström, Martina Marti, Niko Mattila, Lani Nordlund, Mirva Pulkkinen, Lari Suominen, Annika Tudeer, Juha Valkeapää
4th Season of Mad House Helsinki was curated and produced with new forces. The Season in Suvilahti lasted from January 16th til April 23rd. We had 13 Finnish and 4 international performances, 10 of these were coproduced by Mad House.
Working group: Markus Alanen, Heidi Backström, Aino Haarala, Johannes Hallikas, Sonja Jokiniemi, Leena Kela, Martina Marti, Niko Mattila, Mikko Niemistö, Kati Palokangas, Elina Pirinen, Salla Ryynänen, Lari Suominen, Annika Tudeer ja Juha Valkeapää
5th Season hit Suvilahti in January 2018 (18.1-25.3.). This season took 10 weeks and presented 17 performances in the Tiivistämö's big hall, both from international and national groups and artists. On top of the main program, Mad Bar served as a stage for smaller performances, concerts and spoken word nights.
Working group: Markus Alanen, Heidi Backström, Sonja Jokiniemi, Jere Mönkkönen, Mikko Niemistö, Kati Palokangas, Elina Pirinen, Katja Tolonen, Annika Tudeer, Vilma Vantola & Juha Valkeapää